The Legend!

My boy!

I forgot that printed dynamite tile existed.

@KoolKreeper489 said:
"The Legend!"

The one and only Johnny Thunder! Move over Indiana Jones; you're old hat. ;-)

Classic Figure. Easily in the top 10 greatest original lego characters

That scorpion just chucked dynamite at Johnny Thunder! How rude!!

I miss that backpack element. And that "Lego System" logo.

Well, that is quite the adventure. Do you deal with the scorpion first, or the dynamite that you accidentally lit by holding your magnifying glass so it focused sunlight on the fuse?

@PurpleDave said:
"Well, that is quite the adventure. Do you deal with the scorpion first, or the dynamite that you accidentally lit by holding your magnifying glass so it focused sunlight on the fuse?"

Answer: chuck lit dynamite at scorpion and hopefully don't miss!

AKA Joe Freeman AKA Sam Grant.

Nephew to Dr. Kilroy, AKA Dr. Lightning, AKA Dr. Articus, Brother to Dr. Cyber from Time Cruisers.

Married to Miss Pippin Reed, AKA Gail Storm, AKA Linda Lovelay.

Best friend of Pilot Harry Cane, AKA Billy Speed.

Arch Nemesis of Sam Sanister AKA Baron von Barron AKA Mr. Hates.

Check out that audio drama from 5938 !

EDIT:
Spiritual successor of both Capt'n Roger (Red Beard) and Cerlin (Majisto/Filikrato VI), blatant Indiana Jones knock-off and champion of the 4th track in Lego Racers 1.

BTW, look up 'film hinge' that's nice science stuff, and what's that backpack basically is^^

On the back of the box you see the prototypes for both the crate/box and the scorpion, in the retail version their stud types were switched!

Is the magnifying glass basically one of the first parts with color code 30 - Mult. 1?

@KoolKreeper489 said:
"The Legend!"

The Man. The Myth.

I love you, Johnny!

@Atuin said:
"champion of the 4th track in Lego Racers 1."
Too much... nostalgia... must not curl into a ball and think about my age...

Greatest LEGO character of all time. I think we are long overdue for a fifth wave
-Egypt
-Amazon
-Dinosaurs
-Orient Expedition
-??

What's with the green piece?

Johnny Thunder was the best character Lego ever made. He has outlived all the others in the minds and hearts of Lego fans. He is not an Indiana Jones rip off, he is his own man.

I do wish Lego came up with unique themes like this still. They are trying to add named characters to Lego City (as if anyone remembers them after 5 minutes let alone 5 years) but it's just not the same. Chase McCain was alright but he was just a Lego police guy with a name.

Johnny Thunder on the other hand is a legend. He is so much more then a piece of yellow plastic with a slouch hat (Aussie Aussie Aussie!), he has almost evolved into a real person, along with his somewhat equally famous and legendary Dr Kilroy and Pippin Reed.

What's not to love about Adventurers? Lovely vintage vehicles and aircraft, lots of cool, unique, interesting 3D characters, unique locations with lots of interesting pieces.

Pharaohs Quest was an okay attempt at a rehash but 1. I don't know why on earth they didn't just do an updated Johnny Thunder, and 2. the theme didn't have the same story as Adventurers. It was basically just some old cars in the desert and people fighting desert creatures. There was no 'hook' to it, it didn't even have any antagonists (I would separate the creatures and mummies to human antagonists like Baron Von Barron).
In saying that, it wasn't that bad and again I don't know why Lego didn't then just make more themes based around the new hero of Jake Raines.

@PurpleDave. No one was attacking Ninjago, not sure what your point is? Lego cancelled poor Johnny but kept going with Ninjago. That doesn't mean Adventurers was a bad theme or shouldn't return.

I would also argue that while the first few seasons were well developed, Ninjago now has pretty much turned into Lego City where it is an evergreen theme lots of people love, but its lost its direction. Some of the subthemes are a tad odd and it would be cooler seeing them as apart of a whole new idea rather than basically putting any new location, time period etc. under the banner of Ninjago.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I also feel that people were a lot more connected to the Ninjago story and characters in the past then they are now.

@PurpleDave , Johnny Thunder was far from the first named character. Majisto and Captain Roger Redbeard come to mind. But Adventurers was far more clearly story-driven than what came before. And most importantly, it was more clearly focussed on a main character than ever before.
Yes, stuff from later came later, themes that ran for a decade or longer ran for longer than Adventurers. The floor is made out of floor.
But Johnny Thunder as a character has seemingly stuck with people from that era the most.
Maybe this is quality over quantity. I doubt more people care about the Lego version of Batman all that much. And those sales numbers only tell you so much, you know?
And that quality can be subjective. Perhaps people look fondly on Johnny Thunder because of the relatively high chance of owning the figure if you only have a couple of the small sets. Perhaps because of the marketing. And perhaps this fondness is a regional thing only, probably more common in the US. Personally I grew up in this era and the name didn't stick with me as much as it evidently did with other people. But the point is that as a singular character he would be remembered well.

And that's the neat thing here. People are nostalgic and get joy out of it! It's nice to see!
That's why I personally love the RSotD.

As an aside, this particular set always confused me. What are you supposee to build here, with this loose bunch of acessories a crate and a plate? And I mean build, not put in a crate. And why did they put a green plate in a desert-focussed theme anyway? Is this an oasis?
Out of all the sets featuring Johnny Thunder, this is not exactly the best, even of its size class. Unless you just want those then-new accesories and nothing else but the Legend himself.

@PurpleDave Well firstly I was just making a happy, positive comment. I do hate it these days that every single word has to be analysed and debated, challenged or cancelled. My comment wasn't a proposition for a new legal code in the U.N Charter that Johnny Thunder is the most popular Lego character of all time so I don't see why you needed to challenge it.

Also, I wasn't even alive when many of the Adventurers sets were around yet I am an ardent fan. I rather doubt anyone can be a proper FOL (like real into Lego) without at least hearing about this chap Johnny Thunder.

Bionicle is popular, true, but how many times do you see anyone on the internet (not just Brickset but in general) ever mention any of the Bionicle characters names, especially compared to the amount of times Johnny Thunder is mentioned? In fact it apart from the Lego Ideas project and the 90th anniversary vote, I haven't really heard the word Bionicle mentioned since I was in primary school and the sets were on shelves.

I would also strongly rebut your argument about 1st year Bionicle outselling Adventurers. You are probably correct about sets being sold, but I would question that as proof of a theme's enduring popularity. I give you some examples. Van Gogh sold I think it was about 3 artworks in his whole lifetime. Yet he is one of the most revered and famous artists. Unlike Van Gogh, Adventurers was actually really popular during the time it was on shelves, and after. Another example; not many kids thesedays would have the Beatles on their spotify playlist, but that doesn't mean the Beatles don't have an enduring popularity.

Again no one was questioning the popularity of Ninjago. But I do think characters like Johnny Thunder and Captain Redbeard are more enduring then Kai for example. Predominantly because they were developed more rather than just being a name.
As for the Lego Movie, you are in part true but really, how many times have we heard Emmet used apart from The Lego Movies? From what I've seen Emmet and his friends didn't pick up that much with kids (like most protagonists of modern films, kids love them when the film is out but forget them the moment there's a new film). Personally I wouldn't say Emmet was very unique, his character personality has been done many times before.

I'm reading a book on Scotland at the moment and I've heard many times of Robert the Bruce, Mary Queen of Scots, William Wallace, these people were around in like the 13th century and in fact often didn't do as much as history would suggest yet they are enduring. I'm an Australian in the 21st century and I was equally accustomed to those names as I am of Scott Morrison or Joe Biden. Sure, historical figures (in Scotland) have surpassed these people, yet they endure far longer than say James II or whoever is the leader of Scotland right now.

You are correct that Adventurers didn't go as well in the 90th anniversary, but that was for the whole theme rather than Johnny himself. More importantly, Adventurers was up against Castle, Pirates and Classic Space, which as well as having the nostalgia factor are also more broad. I think Adventurers didnt fare as well simply because it wasn't as clear what 1 set for the entire Adventurers theme (s) should be. Like Castle theme...duhh a big castle. Pirates? A pirate ship, maybe with a fort. Space? A big space ship or space base. Adventurers? Probably an Egyptian temple with some vehicles. But that doesn't mean Adventurers is less popular. You should also recall just how many options on that vote were just subthemes of The Big Three (Castle, Pirates, Space) so of course they outweighed everything else.

As the lit dynamite hit ground, Johnny had two thought ran through his mind near-simultaneously:
-"It's gonna be another one of THOSE days..."
(and)
-"I miss my cart..."

Adventure was within my 'Dark Period', so I remember seeing and thinking: "So "Indiana Jones', if he were done by Lego."...why can't I have that level of 'vision' with Stocks or the Lotto...:)

@gylman said:
"Greatest LEGO character of all time. I think we are long overdue for a fifth wave
-Egypt
-Amazon
-Dinosaurs
-Orient Expedition
-??"

Antarctica?
Maybe we'll finally have Lego Shoggoths!

@Aramor I actually thought that. A Shackleton type expedition would be cool especially combined with that 1939 Antarctic Explorer vehicle that was massive and carried an aeroplane on it (it was too heavy for the ice and was abandoned).

Ah the man himself. But I do wonder why he packed a scorpion in amongst the other weapons in his gun crate, perhaps he intends to throw it at someone?

@Brickalili said:
"Ah the man himself. But I do wonder why he packed a scorpion in amongst the other weapons in his gun crate, perhaps he intends to throw it at someone?"

It's his pet scorpion. Voyages through the desert can get lonely.

@jkb They did Orient Expedition before which covered Nepal, India and China. South East Asia is a good idea but I feel like that would be too similar to Orient Expedition.

Middle East would be way too similar to Egypt. As in, archaeological digs in Mesopotamia, Persia etc, although of course very different cultures would still be very similar sets to the Egypt line.

They could do places like Indonesia, New Guinea, what about the Pacific Islands or even Johnny's homeland (and mine too) Australia? I reckon some Pacific Islands or looking for sunken treasure would work best.

There’s a lot of love for Adventurers here so in case some people didn’t know, the current haunted house set has a lot of references to the theme.

Also, Linda Lovelay is quite the name

@jkb, yes African archaeology would be interesting. How on earth does Adventurers support colonialism though?? Or racism??

They are just Indy style explorers they aren't conquering anything nor do they steal anything. Plus they have lots of friends from the various areas they go and certainly never said or did anything racist.

There are good guys and bad guys from each area. Like Sam Sinister is a bad Englishmen, Von Barron a bad German, Dr Kilroy is a good Englishman, Johnny a good Aussie. (I think Pippin was American?) They had Baboo the good Indian, and whatever the Maharaja chap was the bad guy. I forget their Chinese friend's name I can remember what the character looked like but not the name. Then there was the evil Emperor. Plus they were often fighting 'neutral' monsters and so forth.

I do think Europe would be an interesting one to do like Eastern Europe (maybe an evil Russian), or Greece, maybe Scandinavia with some Norse elements?

@Brickchap and @PurpleDave : both Adventurers and Bionicle happened during my dark ages, but even I know Johnny Thunder. I think I even have one lying around somewhere from some joblot I bought on ebay years ago.
I don't know any Bionicle characters though. Go figure.

And while I have quite a lot of Ninjago sets, I still don't know which character is which (nor do I care, to be honest. I was never interested in named characters, I made up my own names and stories anyway as a kid. And as an adult I am only interested in the building experience, the minifigs are just window dressing - or go straight to the parts bin if they don't look interesting enough to me).

I didn't see the point of buying this set at the time, when I already had three identical Johnny Thunders from 5938, 5956 and 5919. In hindsight I wonder if I maybe regret that a little, just because this was THE signature set of one of my childhood favourite characters... would have been nice to keep around, especially complete with its box and all. Nostalgic.

Even though I've never been a fan of the name Johnny, he somehow makes it work?

-
Regarding the comments about the ethical questions surrounding the Adventurers, in the UK Adventures magazine comics at least they were explicitly stated to be investigating the sites with the intention of studying and documenting the treasures and then putting them back where they found them. Orient Expedition had them actually taking the treasure away; but in that case the backstory in the online comic explained that the Golden Dragon and the treasures that led to it actually belonged to historical explorer Marco Polo, received as gifts from the Khan of China as repayment for services Polo had performed for him. He had left the map so that future explorers could retrieve them on his behalf after his death... making it so that, again, they weren't technically stealing.

Of course, such details aren't necessarily clear from the sets themselves. Inevitably if the sets are on toy store shelves, a lot of people are going to see them without the context of - or even any knowledge that there is - a backstory that gives the characters noble intentions, and draw their own conclusions based solely on what the box-art presents them with.

@Brickchap said:
"or Greece"

Johnny Thunder and co. have in fact visited Greece! It wasn't an actual line of sets, though; only an online flash story/game that took place in the interim between Dino Island and Orient Expedition. I don't remember what they were specifically looking for... the only parts that stand out in my memory are that Sam Sinister (that is, Baron Von Barron) had a jetpack in one scene, and that the final 'showdown' of the game was Johnny... playing Connect Four against the minotaur.

So yeah. That was a thing!

This is the last recorded image of Johnny Thunder, who was hauling a box of adventuring gear through the desert when a wayward scorpion caused him to forget about a stick of dynamite he had just lit for warmth. The sands of the desert do, in fact, grow cold every night. Johnny left behind five children and an irritable scarlet macaw with a gamer's vocabulary.

The name of this set alone inclines me to love it: my younger brothers have accused me--accurately--of having made Johnny Thunder the protagonist of my entire LEGO universe. So I'm sympathetic to and wish to enjoin solemnly all hyperbole in his and the Adventurers' favour.

While I would absolutely eat a new Adventurers theme up, especially if it really were the Adventurers (Johnny Thunder, Harry Cane, Gail Storm, and Dr. Lightning--if I may take the Canadian side in the name wars) in a new environment, I don't really need that: part of what made the theme great to me in the first place was that the adventurers could easily "go on the road"--to Castle, Pirates, even Space, or--dare I say it--Ninjago.

But it would be nice to see the whole team again.